


The Thing About Bucky

by RDJWINCHESTER1



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Winter Soldier - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Brain Damage, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Caregiver Steve Rogers, Disabled Bucky Barnes, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Bucky Barnes, POV Original Female Character, POV Steve Rogers, Physical Therapy, Slow Burn, Steve Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:33:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23346244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RDJWINCHESTER1/pseuds/RDJWINCHESTER1
Summary: Let me explain before I start.My name is Naomi Carson.My grandfather and father both fought and died in the war. At his funeral, when I was 15, I met a man whom my father had saved. The man had lost his right leg in the war. Ever since then I wanted to be a physical therapist and help people.I have been a therapist for 6 years but have only been at NY Institution for the Disabled for two months. Being a therapist for this long, I thought I had seen everything from war veterans with no legs and depression to older women who had hip replacements.Then I met Bucky and his caregiver Steve.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. A New Day

Let me explain before I start. 

My name is Naomi Carson. 

My grandfather and father both fought and died in the war. At his funeral, when I was 15, I met a man whom my father had saved. The man had lost his right leg in the war. Ever since then I wanted to be a physical therapist and help people. 

I have been a therapist for 6 years but have only been at NY Institution for the Disabled for two months. Being a therapist for this long, I thought I had seen everything from war veterans with no legs and depression to older women who had hip replacements.

Then I met Bucky and his caregiver Steve. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was told that I had to introduce myself...because Steve said so. 

My name is James Buchanan Barnes. But I don’t like that name so everyone calls me Bucky. Except Steve, he calls me Buck. Or baby if I’m cute or being sneaky, like that one time I snuck into the kitchen and had a second cookie. Steve told me that I could only have one, but I was being sneaky. 

Steve tells me that I fought in the war but I don’t remember much. Just a lot of flashes of colors and loud noises. It hurts to think about the war. Steve says I have PTSD and that’s why he stays with me at my house. 

Hehe. I was being sneaky there. I said that he stays with me at my house. Hehe. I stay with him at his house. Hehe. 

Steve also says that the PTSD makes me young and sometimes it makes me hurt myself. Steve says that I don’t mean to hurt myself, that it just happens. 

Steve says that it is all okay and he tells me all the time. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My name is Steve Rogers.

My buddy and I fought in the war together for 5 years. I was a Captain and Bucky was a Sergeant. We were both honorably discharged due to saving an entire platoon. An honorable discharge takes a while to process, so Bucky and I kept going on missions till we got discharged. 

The last mission meant we had to go with our crew in a building. Our five guys cleared the bottom level as Bucky and I had cleared the top level. Three rooms were cleared as I went to the last bedroom and Bucky cleared the kitchen. 

I couldn’t get to him in time when a bomb went off. It took the search team five hours to find everyone. They figured out the bomb had gone off in the downstairs stairwell. Bucky was the only one they found alive. 

Bucky spent 6 months in intensive care then 4 more months in patient care. The bomb had left him with a damaged brain stem that meant it was hard for him to walk and left him with excessive brain damage. On a good day, Bucky thinks like a four year old. 

The hospital wanted to put Bucky in a care center. I disagreed and filed to be his caregiver. Every Saturday we have to go to the center to check in and do physical therapy. 

Here I am supposed to be introducing myself and I am talking about Bucky.

But I was told to explain my life...and Bucky is my life. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naomi’s POV

I was running late for work. This like never happens. I had it down to a science, from if my coffee order takes longer than usual, I would drive down a different route to work. But today, everything was going wrong. First my cat had stolen my keys and hid them behind the couch, my coffee order had been wrong then had to be redone. And traffic had been _absolutely_ _horrendous_. 

I opened the door and even though the day had started rough, the place brought a smile to my face. I had only been at this new place for two months and already have fallen in love with the New York State Institution for Disabled People. The people whether they were permanent residents, patients or fellow workers, everyone was so nice and kind. 

“Well hello there Naomi,” Mrs. Williams said with a smile from her wheelchair. She had a hip replacement after her husband Charlie had died. She had fallen down a set of stairs and had never recovered. Her body that is, she was feisty as ever. 

“Hi Mrs. Williams,” I wave to her as I head to my office. I had paperwork to mail before the day started, so it would get to that said person by tomorrow. The mailman comes twice every day. 

As I enter the office with my co-therapist, Rachel, my office phone goes off. I run over and pick up the phone, almost dropping all my papers and folders. “Naomi Carson, NY Institution for the Disabled.”

“Hi, This is Steve Rogers, I’m calling for Dr. Danvers. “

“Dr. Danvers has retired. My name is Naomi Carson. I am the head physical therapist.”

“Oh, ok I need to switch the time of my appointment for today.”

“Ok,” I say as I dump my papers on my desk and sign into my computer. After a moment of looking him up, I furrow my eyebrows. “I’m sorry, there doesn’t seem to be a Steve Rogers in your system. Are you--”

“Oh. Uh...sorry. Try James Buchanan Barnes. Ouch! Bucky stop.”

“I’m sorry,” I was confused at what was happening on the other end of this phone call. 

“No, It’s not you, it’s James Buchanan Barnes. He just doesn’t like being called that. He goes by Bucky.”

I nod my head as I look up James Buchanan Barnes this time. And this time something does come up. 

It seems that Bucky is a war veteran with excessive brain damage that affects his thoughts, movements and bodily functions. PTSD and anger issues were also in the paperwork. 

“Ok, I see he has been coming here for the past three years. I also see Rachel has some notes. Would you like to meet with her instead?” Some patients didn’t handle change well. 

“Uh, no that’s ok. I know a lot of people probably go to her already because of Mr. Danvers leaving. If you have an opening for every Saturday to 1 then we can stick with you. I just need to switch the time for today. Bucky is having a hard time right now and I want to give him time to calm down.”

“Totally understandable. I have a 3 and 6 available.”

“Uh, the 6 would work, Bucky is usually just waking up from his nap from then. Ouch! Bucky stop! This is your last warning,” Steve’s voice came through the line. 

I tried not to smile too hard.. It sounded like Steve was punishing a four year old instead of an adult male. “Umm...ok you’re all set. I’ll see you at 6pm later today. Just come to Dr. Danvers office and ask for Ms. Naomi Carson,” I said, my smile reflected in my voice. 

“Thank you,” Steve’s voice came across as a grunt. “We’ll see you then. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye,” I said but the line went dead before I finished the word. I have learned not to judge people, especially by their phone calls. 

“Hi Naomi,” Rachel comes in with an ever present smile on her face. 

“Hi Rach, how are things?” I ask as I organize my paperwork and clients for the day.

“Good, Max is going to take me out for my birthday,” when I look up in surprise, she smiles. “My birthday’s not til tomorrow but he has to work then.” Max was Rachel’s husband and worked as a cop at the local police station. 

I give a dramatic sigh of relief as I realized that she isn’t planning on leaving her lunch break. The head office manager, Karen, and myself have already planned a surprise birthday cake and balloons for her during her lunch break. 

“How many clients do you have today? Who was that on the phone?” Rachel asked as she set up her own desk for the day. 

“Steve Rogers. He is James Buchanan Barnes’ caregiver. James is having a hard day and Mr. Rogers needed to change the time to 6pm,” I say as I get ready for my first patent of the day. An older man named Carl who was a permanent resident here with Alzheimer’s and did light full body physical therapy every day. 

“Ahh,” Rachal said as she started her emails for the day. 

I gave her a weird look. “What does that mean?”

“Bucky and Steve are two people you wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon,” she gave a dreamy sigh. “Especially Steve.”

I snorted as I put on my doctor coat. “Relationships with patients are prohibited,” I gave her a look before shutting the office door part way, leaving my friend to her own thoughts. 

“Hi Mr Carl, how are we doing today?” I said with a smile. 

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve’s POV

“James Buchanan Barnes, corner now!” I point to the designated time out and Bucky heads to it with a cry of indignation and stomping of his feet. Because his back is turned, I take a moment to roll my eyes. 

Bucky was having a hard day. He had woken up with nightmares and flashbacks. And the flashbacks caused him to lash out in anger. He had thrown his oatmeal at the wall and bit my hand when I had tried to change him. His therapy session was supposed to be at 10, but Ms. Naomi Carson had been nice enough to change it to 6. 

It was close to 9 now, so I got Bucky’s backpack ready to head downstairs to the office.

We lived at StarkTower where my friend Tony Stark was the maker of the most widely used phones, tablets and most chips and databases used in the Airforce. Tony had sided with the Airforce to help build his best friend, Rhodey, a safer way to fly. 

Tony Stark had given us an entire floor of the 84 floors tower when Bucky had gotten out of the hospital with the best nurses and doctors on call. The apartment looked like a one level house with a master bedroom and bath. Two smaller bedrooms and a bathroom were down the hall that led to a full kitchen. A full sized living room was connected to the kitchen by a step and had a 55’ inch TV on one wall. There was a chair in one corner where the time out chair was and a coat hanger for coats and backpacks next to the elevator which would be the front door in a normal house. 

Tony and Pepper Potts lived together on the floor above us. Best friends Narasha Romanoff and Clint Barton lived on the floor below us. They both worked for the CIA and were gone most of the time, so they decided to live together. 

10 floors down was all of our offices. I work there and did paperwork for the Airforce parts that Tony made. It wasn’t much, but it was something to give me something to do besides taking care of Bucky. And I might be one of those weird people who like paperwork. And if Bucky was having a bad day, I could just take that day off or do some here or there. 

Even with Bucky having a hard day, I knew how beneficial it was to keep Bucky, and myself, on a schedule. 

I sat down on the couch and called Bucky over once I had finished packing his backpack. Bucky came over, shuffling this time instead of stomping his feet. He stood in front of me playing with his shirt corner. 

“Bucky, look at me please,” I waited until I saw those greyish blue eyes. “Why were you put in time out?” Bucky went to put his thumb in his mouth but I stopped him before he could. “Why were you in time out?”

“Cause I kicked you,” Bucky mumbled.

“And do we kick or hit in this house?” I asked, looking into his eyes. 

Bucky gave a small shake of his head.

“Use your words please,” I said softly. 

“No hitting in our house,” Bucky said out loud this time. 

“Or kicking,” I said as I pulled him onto my lap. “Now, can you tell me why you chose to kick me?”

Bucky took his time thinking. “ ‘cause I don’t want to go downstairs.”

“Why not?” I asked as I moved a piece of long brown hair out of his eyes. 

“Boring.”

I had to admit, it probably was boring for Bucky. He couldn’t do any of the paperwork and no way would Tony let him in his office. There were many things that could blow up. 

“How about we bring your ipad today. And just for today,” I added when Bucky let out a gasp and looked to excited. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Bucky sang and leaped off my lap. 

“Hey, wait. What do you have to say?” I gave him a look. 

“Sorry,” Bucky said then gave me a kiss on the cheek. 

I shook my head as Bucky ran to the kitchen where his ipad was charging. Bucky didn’t learn things like he used to. He used to be the most sought after marksman now he would forget what I told him 15 minutes ago. 

Bucky ran by and almost face planted as his sock feet slipped on the linoleum flooring in the kitchen. He ran to put his ipad in his Paw Patrol backpack. 

“Let’s go potty first,” I got up and held out my hand for Mr. Whiny Boy to take. Bucky wore a pull up all the time. He was 80% good at knowing when he had to go and made it in time. At night, he did wear a diaper because the pull ups couldn’t hold a full man’s bladder. He always had a change of clothes in his backpack. 

After a potty break for both of us and putting Buzz Lightyear light up shoes on wiggly feet, we headed downstairs to the office. 

I set Bucky up at his own little desk in the corner and head to mine. While Bucky’s has pictures and crayons, mine as black pens and an entire stack of paperwork. 

“Hey man,” Tony said as he walked by. “Pepper wants you to look over the new contract for the new wings with air dynamics for the AF.”

“AF?” I questioned as I looked at the stack of papers that had to be at least 500 pages. 

“Air force,” Tony said as he walked away.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s AEF Tony. It stands for the full name of the Aerospace Expeditionary Force. 

Tony shrugged as he grabbed a cup of coffee. “Close enough.”

I rolled my eyes as Tony walked off.  _ Now to the paperwork,  _ I spare one last look at Bucky before digging in. 

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky’s POV

_ I gots to bring my ipad to work today! _

_ And maybe every day if Steve lets me! _

He said that I could play my games while he worked on boring old paperwork, yuck. I do paperwork sometimes too! My are more colorful than Steve’s, he says pictures are just as important as paperwork. Sometimes Tony calls them works of art in a loud voice but then he hangs them on the wall. He really likes ones where I use red and gold colors. 

I follow Steve to our offices and after Steve tells me to be a good boy  _ (I rolled my eyes) _ , I go to sit at my desk.

_ My desk is the coolest! _

_ It is blue but with a green chair cause those are my favorite colors!  _

There is a squishy board on the wall where I can hang my most favoritest pictures. But only on the squishy board. I gets in trouble if I put pictures anywhere else. 

_ But today I gets to play my games, so no time for pictures. _

I decide to play Paw Patrol on the Nicky app.  _ Ryder and Chase need help to find the missing medals for the police officers! _

After a bit, Steve comes over to see if I need to go potty and I tell him no, that I’m too busy.  _ And I am! I am playing a game and I have to help Skye fly her helicopter to save her friends. She needs my help! _

Steve is a grumpy old man and goes back to his yucky paperwork with a sigh. That sigh means I’m being difficult, but I’m not, I’m busy. 

I don’t have to pee so I decided to draw Steve a picture. He likes flowers so I make him a page with blue  _ (his favorite color) _ pink and yellow flowers. 

I get up to go give it to him, but I run into Pepper first.  _ She’s a nice lady with orange hair. Natasha has red hair.  _

“Opps, didn’t see you there,” Pepper says and smiles at me. “How are you?”

I feel shy so I look at the ground. I have the coolest light up shoes! “I made a picture for Steve,” I hold it up for her to see but bring it right back just in case Pepper decides that she wants to take it.  _ It’s not for Pepper, it’s for Steve.  _

Pepper didn’t get to look at the picture when Bucky just waved it in her face really quick. But that was ok. That was just who Bucky was. “Well, I’m sure he’ll love it.” Bucky just nods and looks at the floors. He peeks up at her and she smiles just for him to duck his head again. “Ok, well I have to find Tony. Do you know where he is?”

I nod. “Office,” I say quietly. Pepper bends down and smiles again. She whispers a ‘thank you’; being just as quiet as me.  _ And that’s nice.  _

Then Tony comes out (because he saw Pepper) and says hi in a loud voice and that kind of hurts so I cover my ears just in case he said something else.

“Oh, sorry buddy,” Tony says more quietly so I can uncover my ears. I just nod because I don't know what else to do. Then I remember the picture  _ (for Steve)  _ and hold it up for Tony to see. 

“Splendid!” Tony says in a quiet voice, but he likes it, so that’s nice. I give him a smile and he smiles back! “Is that for me?” Tony asks. 

I shake my head. “Steve. Steve likes flowers.”

Tony nods. “That makes sense. Are you going to make one for me and Mrs. Pepper today?”

I shrug. I don’t know.  _ What happens if they want one, but don’t like it? What happens if I don’t have enough time today? I shouldn’t have drawn a picture for Steve. I should have drawn a picture for Tony and Mrs. Pepper. I messed up. I did it wrong.  _

“Hey buddy, what’s going on?”

I flinch when Steve grabs my hands away from my head. I whine and tried to pull away. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Steve said quietly as he kept his hands on me. 

“No, all wrong. It’s wrong. Not good,” I go to hit my head again but Steve pulls me into his lap and puts my hands by my side. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Maybe we can fix what’s wrong. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“Picture,” I grunt as I try to wiggle out of his lap. 

Steve finds the picture on the floor. “This picture. It’s beautiful. I like flowers, they’re my favorite.”

“Yours,” I say. 

“I love it Bubba. Now what’s wrong?” Steve says calmly running a hand through my hair as I breath heavily. 

“Not Tony’s, I made it wrong. Time runs out, all none. All wrong. Wrong.”

“Hey pal calm down,” Tony kneels down in front of me as I try to hit my head again and let out a whine. “I like the picture you gave Steve. And Pepper and I will love the picture you make us. You can make it tomorrow when you come in.”

“You know what?” Steve said. 

_ I look up at him. I don’t know.  _

“I think we should hang up this picture because it’s so pretty,” Steve smiles and looks down at me. 

I don’t feel like talking so I just nod. But Steve says that’s okay and we go to the table where Tony makes the frames and we pick out the color green.  _ Green like the leaves on the flowers.  _ Steve says that artists sign their name on their art so I sign my name on the back of the picture in big letters so everyone can see it. Tony says that was a good idea and that makes me smile. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve’s POV

Pepper had come to get me when Bucky started to have a meltdown. Apparently Tony had said that Buck should make a picture for him and Pepper and Bucky had taken it wrong. I found him on the ground, hitting his head and mumbling about it being all wrong. 

It took about 15 minutes for him to calm down and we were able to hang the picture on the wall. At the end of every month, Bucky has to choose 15 pictures to take down from the wall and put in a special folder so he can continue to put new pictures back on the wall. 

Bucky was back to his normal four years personality by the time lunch came around. “Go get your lunchbox buddy,” I said and watched as Bucky smiled and ran to get his lunchbox.  _ Lunch time means lunch with Steve and that’s exciting.  _ I move the AEF contract, which I am only about halfway through, over so Bucky doesn’t get jelly on it. 

“How about we go potty first,” I suggest lightly. His pants were sagging. And he seemed to feel it once I said that and paused mid step to look at me with wet eyes. “It’s okay,” I hurry to say as I take him to the bathroom. “And after that we can get some chips. Do you want Barbeque or cheddar?” I asked as I lay Bucky on the changing table to change him. If we talked about it, we called it a couch for Bucky’s sake, but it was a raised platform with pads to make it comfortable for Bucky to lay on when I changed him. Tony had put one on each floor even if Bucky never went to that floor. Tony was hard on the outside but soft on the inside. 

I am an old hand at this and change him quickly, but Bucky still cries. “C-ch-cheddar,” Bucky hiccups as he wipes his tears away with his balled up fists. 

“Cheddar sounds great baby. Will you share with me?” I ask as I throw the dirty pullup away and wash my hands. I picked him up, ever the lightweight, and he curled into me with a small, “Yeah.”

“Ok then,” I say with a smile. 

Bucky spends lunch on my lap. He giggles and hoards the chips when I go to snag one. “Mine!” he says. 

“But I thought you’d share with me,” I say with a fake pout. But just like most jokes, a fake pout is taken to be real and he frowns at me. He slids me the rest of his chips. Even though there are only 5, I just take one and tell him he can have the rest. He smiles and eats the rest of his peanut butter  _ (only smooth) _ and jelly  _ (only strawberry) _ sandwich  _ (only cut diagonal)  _ and apple juice box. 

After lunch, Bucky grabs his stuffed dog, Skye and goes to his desk and crawls under it. Don’t ask me why, Bucky just does things like that. But once he’s under his desk, he falls right to sleep. He’ll sleep for at least two hours, so I can get my work done. 

I am ¾ of the way through the contract before Pepper makes an appearance. “Sorry about earlier.”

“Bucky has already had a hard day, it was nothing you or Tony did.”

“We’re still sorry though. Why are you not at therapy?”

I told her what Bucky did this morning and told her that there was a new lady named Naomi Carson. I asked Pepper if she could look her up. Not that I didn’t trust the new therispst, I just wanted to see if she was any good at her job. 

Pepper said she would get right on that and I went to see Tony about some questions I had about the contract and things that needed fixing. 

“Tony!” I called when I didn't see him right away. “Tony!”

“What?” Tony popped up from under one of his latest project. A flight simulator. 

“I have some questions?”

“Fire away,” He said as he continued working on the hardware. 

“It says that this contract is on for pilots. Shouldn’t it be for everyone in the Air Force.”

“Don’t you mean AEF,” Tony smirked as I rolled my eyes. “If you work at a desk, you don’t need to learn the flight simulator. It isn’t a toy.”

“Ok. Why is it only $5 million?”

“Charity,” Tony states. I look at him for a second before he rolls his eyes. “Pepper made me do it.”

“And how much did you want to charge?”

“$15 Mil.”

I choke on my own spit. “Jesus, Tony!”

“Language,” Tony admonished and let out a gasp. “It’s not like AEF has a shortage of money, I pay my taxes.”

I swear between Tony and Bucky, my eyes would roll out of my head. I roll my eyes and leave Tony to his loud music and blow torch. 

I go back to work and begin to fix all of the spelling mistakes. Tony is a genius not a great speller. I finished just in time for Bucky to wake up from his nap. I will come and type everything up correctly tomorrow. 

“How’d you sleep baby?” I ask as Bucky squeezes onto my lap and I give him a kiss on the cheek. 

Bucky cuddles into me and blinks sleepy. “Good,” he whispers. 

“Yeah. You wanna go upstairs and get dinner then we can go therapy.” Bucky doesn’t say anything, just cuddles deeper. 

I grab his backpack with him on my hip and head upstairs. I put the kiddo on the couch with his stuffie and an episode of Paw Patrol  _ (go figure) _ . I head to the kitchen to start an early dinner of chicken fajita without onions, but with plain rice. I put a separate bowl aside of onions for me just as my phone dinged. 

_ Pepper _

_ Here is what I found on Naomi Carson. _

  
  


I click on the link to see that Naomi Carson was a 26 year old woman who grew up in Kansas and moved to Brooklyn after her mother died. I also saw that her grandfather and father had both fought and died in the war. It said that she had become a physical therapist to help veterans but right now she works at NY Institution for the disabled. 

Bucky and I have been going to NY Institution for the Disabled for three years to see Dr. Danvers. I hope that Bucky will get used to Naomi and like her just like he had enjoyed Dr. Danvers. 

I saw that Pepper had attached a picture and when I clicked on it, I had to hold my breath. Naomi was beautiful with light green eyes and blond hair. In the picture she was wearing a white off the shoulder top with a pair of blue jeans that come with holes already in them.  _ ( I don’t understand that trend at all).  _ She was smiling at the camera and it made me feel as if she was right here smiling at me. 

I haven’t had time for love in my life. I was busy taking care of my mom when I was younger and when she passed away, I joined the army with Bucky by my side. Or me by his side, back then. After fighting in the war and back to civilian life, it was too hard to focus on love. Then I got the caregiver status of Bucky. There is no room for love when dealing with a four year old who has PTSD from the war and abusive ticks. 

Since getting Bucky, it has been a quick jack off in the shower or in bed if I wasn’t too tired. The first time Bucky saw a naked lady on the tv, he had closed his eyes and screamed. He didn’t look at the turned off tv for two days straight. It was kind of funny. He would leave the bathroom door open when he peed but I told him he had to shut the door if he had to poop. He used to play with himself, not in a sexual way, when I would change him. But after a couple of time outs and yucky fingers, he doesn’t do that anymore. It's ‘in-a-prop-ate’ he says. He also says that if I put my elbows on the table. He said it to Clint once when he farted and Bucky had heard it. Cue Tony snorting wine out of his nose. 

“Steve.”

I look up from my thoughts. “What’s up buddy?”

“Show,” he points to the living room where the show must have ended. 

“It’s dinner time. Chicken and peppers.”

Bucky cheers and runs over to his seat. He sits down and bounces and “waits” for me to put the food on a tortilla shell and put it on a plastic plate for him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naomi’s POV

I sigh as I put my trash in the garage can and call back in from my lunch break. 

Lunch break. 

Should be called dinner break. It was nearly 4. I had gotten a break at 12. It was supposed to be my lunch break but Rachel had had an emergency that she needed help with Mr. Matter. The older gentleman had been doing standing therapy when he fell and had a seizure. Before becoming a therapist I had become an RN, almost, I had one year left, but went straight into physical therapy. 

As I thought about my day, I went into my office and settled down to answer some emails and voicemails. I _ f I have to call Ms. Porter one more time! (insert angry growl/groan). _

A knock at the door makes me up. “Come in!” 

A freaking  _ gorgeous _ man walks in with a shy man following behind him. The man in front was at least 6’4 with light blond hair and the lightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.

The man following him was holding onto the front man’s hand so tight both of their hands were white. The second man was a couple inches shorter than the first and had dark brown hair that looked to be about shoulder length. 

“Hi, can I help you?”

“Hi,” the front man said with a smile. “Ms. Naomi Carson?”

I spare a quick look at the clock on my phone.  _ 6:15. Oh shit!  _ I gasped as I stood up to shake hands with the handsome blondie. “Uh god, yes, I’m sorry, I’m Naomi Carson. Have you been waiting long? You must be Steve Rogers?”

As soon as I say all of this the man behind Steve, which means he must be James, James starts to hum bumping into Steve’s shoulder with his head. I should have schooled my reaction. I probably made James more nervous than he already is at meeting a new person. 

_ Great. We’re not off to a great start.  _

“Hi, yes I’m Steve Rogers and this is Bucky,” He squeezed the hand of the man nudging him. 

_ Right, Bucky doesn’t like to be called James.  _

“Hi Bucky, it’s nice to meet you,” I say in a quiet voice. I smiled when he spared a quick glance at me. “How about we go to the quiet room so we can calm down for a bit,” I suggest and lead the way to the ‘quiet room’. 

Let's be honest, sometimes I have to use the quiet room. It’s a small room with a bunch of soft pillows and blankets to choose from. It has noise cancelling headphones but there is also a radio on a small table that you can play calming music on. It has so small sensory items in a bin under the table, but it is just a place to relax, not play. The rooms next store are offices, which are generally quieter and then 5 doors down is the physical therapy room where all the equipment and “toys” are. 

Steve goes in first with Bucky. Bucky immediately goes to the giant bean bag and snuggles in while Steve grabs a blue blanket and puts it over and around him. 

I point to the radio and Steve nods so I turn it on and turn it low. 

After a minute, Steve comes over to me and we sit at the table together, talking in hushed voices. Some people don’t like talking, but Steve took the lead so I assumed Bucky didn’t mind. 

“Sorry about that. He’s still having a hard day. The car ride was anything but quiet. We may not get far today.”

“Well, that’s okay,” I say. “You guys are here and that’s the first step.”

“Well technically the first step was getting him to get in the car,” Steve lets out a chuckle. 

That makes me smile. Steve has a nice smile. One that lights up a room. 

“After he calms down, we can head to the therapy room. Is there a routine you guys follow at all or anything you want to work on, new or continuing?”

“Umm,” Steve looks down in thought. “We were working on hand movements, they’re still kind of jerky. He had a meltdown earlier so I would like to remind him what to do to calm down at home.”

“Ok,” I nod reassuringly. I cleared my throat. “And what about his incontinence?” It may be a touchy subject for some patients. 

“He had an accident during the meltdown and didn’t notice it until I said something,” Steve said. 

A grunt turned our attention to Bucky. 

“Big boy!” Bucky said with a pout and glare at Steve. 

I turn to look at the man’s reaction. These two are new patients to me and I want to see how they interact with each other. 

“That’s right, you are a big boy Buck. But even big boys have accidents sometimes and that’s okay,” Steve said calmly. He stood up and fixed his deep red shirt. “Do you want to go to the therapy room now?”

Bucky took a second to think then held his hand out for Steve to take. 

“You lazy bum,” Steve teased as he went to Bucky and hoisted him to his feet. When Bucky whined as his foot got stuck in the blanket. Steve unwrapped it with ease and put Bucky on his hip in one swift movement. 

That was surprising.

A man lifting another full ground man was not something you see everyday. And that’s coming from a physical therapist who sees patients who can’t walk and need someone to help them out of bed. 

“Ready to go?” Steve bounced Bucky a couple of times to ease his nervousness. Bucky nods but doesn't look so sure as we all head to the physical therapy room. 

Just as Steve put Bucky down on the carpeted floor, I remembered that his paperwork said that he had brain damage that made him act younger than he really is. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky’s POV

_ I didn’t want to go in the car! _

“No, no, no!” I kicked and tried to bite Steve. “No caw!”

Steve put me down and I didn’t feel like standing so I sit on my butt. I gave Steve a  _ major _ pout. 

“Why don’t you want to go in the car buddy? I thought you wanted to go to therapy.” 

“No.” Steve doesn’t see my pout so I give him a bigger one. 

Steve doesn’t care about the pout or what I think and he put me in the car.

I even cry and he doesn’t care! 

_ Steve is a meanie! A. Big. Fat. Meanie.  _

We get the building where all the toys are and go in. We stopped at the potty so Steve could clean my face, which I didn’t like, and so I could go pee, which I didn’t need to. Well, maybe I did, but that’s not the point. 

Then we go to Dr. Danvers office, only to see a lady there. Not Dr. Danvers. 

Then the lady started talking alot and and Steve wasn’t listening to me. 

Then I guess it got better, we got to go to the quiet room. 

I like the quiet room. It has a GIANT beanbag. I tried to see if there were beans in it one time but Steve said that if I kept picking at it, I had to get off. It doesn’t smell like beans, so I’m not sure. 

I climb on the bean bag and Steve puts a soft blanket on me and I snuggle it. 

_ I like quiet.  _

  
Steve told the lady that I had an accident.  _ And that’s embarrassing! _

“Big boy!” I tell them.  _ I don’t know this lady. I’m a big boy thank you very much! _

“That’s right, you are a big boy Buck. But even big boys have accidents sometimes and that’s okay,” Steve says calmly. “Do you want to go to the therapy room now?”

I guess so, but not without Steve!

I’m happier when he picks me up and we head to the room with all the toys. 

Steve sets me down and I run off towards the blocks.  _ They are GIANT!  _

With Steve’s help I build a TALL tower so I can crawl in it. Steve stands out in front and makes a silly face. I giggle behind my hand. 

“Can I come in?” 

I look over to see that the lady had asked the question. I shrug so she comes in and sits down next to me. 

“My name’s Naomi. What’s yours?”

I look at the lady to see if she is nice or not. She is smiling and except for earlier she seems quiet enough. “Bucky.”

The lady holds out her hand to shake. I watch her carefully for any funny business as I shake her hand. 

Steve says funny business means that you have to watch the person to see if they are being sneaky or not. Pepper says she has to watch Tony all the time. 

No funny business. 

She shakes my hand up and down, then side to side.  _ That’s not how you shake hands. _ Then she goes in a circle. 

I start to giggle so hard that I fall over and knock the tower over. It comes crashing down. 

Just in case Steve got scared, I sit on his lap for a couple moments. And no one can tell if I’m scared cause I hide in Steve’s chest. I am a big boy so soon I look over to see Naomi playing with a long stateboard. She’s standing up on it, but not very good. “Could you help me?”

I look up at Steve. He says that it’s nice to help people. And to share, but that’s not fun. Steve smiles and says that he’s not leaving so I go help Naomi. She asks me to hold her hand while she stands on the skateboard and I have to walk with her so she doesn’t fall. 

_ And she doesn’t fall! _

It’s so exciting we just have to clap. Naomi turns on the radio and we dance around for a bit and it’s so fun.  _ We dance and giggle lots!  _ I fell down lots too, but Naomi just helps me up and we keep dancing. Then we both fall down, out of breath. 

_ Dancing is tiring. _

I get to go over to the tiny fridge in the corner and I get to pick a juice. I pick an apple and bring orange to Steve. Orange juice tastes funny, but Steve smacks his lips together, “So refreshing.” He makes a sour face and Naomi smiles. 

“Ok,” Naomi says. “Let’s rest for a bit.”

I nod, cause I’m tired. 

Naomi goes over and gets a deck of animal cards. I watch as she mixes them ALL UP and places them down so we can’t see the pictures. She picks one up and flips it over. It’s a lion. Then she roars.  _ Loud! _ But it’s ok cause then she flips over a turtle and she walks around REALLY slow. 

“No match,” she says and turns the cards over so no more pictures. 

“All gone,” I look at Steve. 

“It’s okay,” he smiles and flips over two cards. A doggy and a horsie. I giggle when he neighs and he throws his head. He’s hair sticks up all funny. He wrinkles his nose at me when I giggle. “Your turn.”

I flip over a kitty and tiger. So I just meow twice. 

We play until Naomi gets two elephants. She cheers then puts them near her knee. 

“No, put back!” I point to the line up.  _ She’s not supposed to take them! _

“That’s how we play the game sweetheart. If you get a match, you get to keep it,” Steve says gently. 

“No,” I gave him a pout and hit the floor with my hand. After Steve gives me a _look_ , the look that means that I’m not being nice and need to “ _check_ _myself”_. With one last pout, I point to the cards, “Game.”

We went back to the game until I gots two lions.  _ Two lions! _ Steve says I gots to keep them! 

I tried to put them in my backpack but Steve just puts them by my leg instead. 

Naomi gots two zebras and two doggies. Steve gots two kitties, two turtles and two elephants. I gots two lions, two butterflies, two tigers and two horsies. 

_ I won!  _

“Yay!” I try to put my cards in my backpack but Steve says I have to leave them here. “No,” I give him a pout. “Mine.”

“No, remember, when we’re finished with a game we put it back where it belongs,” Steve said firmly. 

“You keep,” I shouted and pointed at him.  _ He said I gots to keep them! _

  
“For the game, but now we have to put them back so we can go home. You wanna go home?”

“No,” I don’t mean to cry, but...but...but…

“Ok,” Naomi says quietly and kneels in front of me. “How about we calm down. Can you take some deep breaths for me. In....good job,” she says when I take a shaky breath in. “Out...in...out...out. There we go. Ok, so I know you’re upset. And that’s okay.”

“Steve,” I say as I wipe my tears away. 

“Steve says that alot?” Naomi asks. I nod. “Well, that’s good. Now do you know why you’re upset?” 

I nod. “I keep cards. Mine.”

“But if you take them home, then I can’t play with someone else who wants to play. We have to be nice and share ok.”

_ See, sharing isn’t fun.  _

I pout at the lady. She isn’t nice anymore. I look up at Steve and he says that sharing is nice.  _ He’s not nice either. _

I shove the cards at Naomi.

Steve kneels down and looks at me. “That’s not nice. Please pick up the cards and put the cards back where they go.”

_ Steve not nice either! And the lady not nice! Don’t wanna share!  _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ The Thing About Bucky _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve’s POV

Naomi and I try not to smile as Bucky mutters and stomps over to put the deck of cards back in the game bin. 

“Steve not nice either. And the lady not nice. Don’t wanna share.”

Bucky comes back and hugs me, cuddling into my chest. “You ready to go home buddy?” All I get is a small nod. I look at Naomi with a smile. “Dr. Danvers usually emails me. Will you email or call or…?”

“I can email a summary,” Naomi jumps in with a smile. 

“Ok,” I smile back. Her smile is contagious. 

“Ok,” Naomi repeats. She leaned so she was closer to Bucky. “I’ll see you next Saturday Bucky.”

Bucky peeked an eye out and took a moment before he nodded. I hope that means that he likes her. We could change over to Rachel, but I know a couple people have changed over to her and I don’t want to overwhelm her with Bucky. Not that I didn’t want to overwhelm Naomi either, It’s just that, hopefully, Bucky likes Naomi. 

“Ok,” I said as I stood up with Bucky in my arms. He was pretty much boneless in my arms. Bucky could go, go, go but when he stopped, he hit a brick wall and was done. 

After goodbyes and a quick check to make sure Naomi and I both have each other's email addresses correct, I load Bucky in the car and by the time we’re home Bucky’s dead asleep. 

I carry him into his room and put him in his racecar bed. It was the only bed that he would sleep in that had bumpers. Bucky had slept with me the first couple of months then switched to a normal bed in the room across from mine. But after two weeks of non-stop crying and falling out of bed, Tony suggested the race car bed that was  _ cool _ in Bucky terms and had bumpers to keep him safe. 

As I shut the bedroom door part way, I looked at my phone to only see that it was only 7:45pm. Bucky usually goes to bed at 9 because in his words he is a big boy, but today was a hard day and he needed the sleep. Hell, I needed the sleep. 

But now it was my quiet time to get stuff done around the house. I clean up the various legos and pillows, I do the dishes. Tony reminds me that we have a dishwasher, but I like to do them by hand, it’s relaxing. I pick up the coloring pages and put them in Bucky’s purple folder, I wipe down counters and the table. Also the remote since Bucky likes to put it in his mouth sometimes. 

After that I head to my bedroom, change into pjs and turn off the light. I get in bed and turn on the side lamp and grab my computer to look at emails and look up my daily articles for any new things on PTSD, news on any Stark tech to keep up to date on Pepper’s end of things and things about age regression. 

Age regression is the closest thing I can find that sounds like what Bucky has. But to be honest one one has what Bucky has. Bucky is just Bucky. Then the last thing I do that Tony always laughs at, is I look up my regular parenting websites. Tony says that is because I am a parent. I say that I do it because it gives helpful information on how to deal with potty training, eating tips, and dealing with tantrums. 

I’m such a parent. 

I sighed as I put my computer on my desk and turned off the side lamp. I climb into the bed and take a moment to savor the sheets before I fall asleep. 

Today has been a long day, maybe tomorrow Bucky and I could have a Bucky and Steve day. 


	2. Author Note

I have serious depression and cant seem to get over it. Story on hold till further notice. sorry for any inconvenience. Keep me in your prayers. 11/12/2020 


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